A Psalm of Thanksgiving

Psalm 100

If you brought your bibles this morning turn with me over to the book of Psalms. The book of Psalms and in a moment we are going to read Psalm 100.

We are taking a break this morning from our study in the gospel of Mark until after the Christmas holiday season. We will get back to Mark in the New Year. Today, I choose Psalm 100 because it is a Psalm of Thanksgiving.

This is the last in a series of Psalms that began with Psalm 93. These are a group of Psalms that point us forward to the Advent and the coming of the king our Lord Jesus Christ.

This week we will carry on a tradition that is as old as America. In 1621 after a terrible winter in which half of their people died of starvation, the Pilgrims set aside 3 days in December to Praise the Lord for a bountiful corn harvest.

Many years later in 1789, President George Washington proclaimed November 26th as a national day of Thanksgiving unto the Lord. He did that in response to God granting America its independence from Britain.

Then in 1863, Abraham Lincoln revived this old tradition of giving thanks to the Lord, and finally, in 1941, the United States Congress decreed the fourth Thursday of November would be a national day of Thanksgiving unto the Lord.

 That is how our Thanksgiving came to be. It is really a simple holiday, that was intended by the founders of our nation as an opportunity to thank God for His provisions, and somehow it has managed to maintain a sense of purity over the years.

For many people, Thursday this week will be just another day. They might gather with family, eat a big meal, and watch a little football, but never really consider the reason we celebrate Thanksgiving.

But for us as Christians we never want to be guilty of forgetting to give thanks to the Lord. In fact, don’t allow your thanksgiving to be limited to one day a year, but do your very best to maintain a heart of gratitude toward God all the time.

For the Apostle Paul would tell us in 1 Thes. 5:18 that this is the will of God for our lives!!

So, I am grateful to have portions of scripture like Psalm 100 that remind us, no matter what is going on in the world around us, it is always a time to be thankful to the Lord.

Psalm 100 KJV

A Psalm of praise. Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

(Pray)

Father,

we are so grateful that we can come into your presence with praise and thanksgiving.

Lord we thank you for your love and kindness you have poured out on us through Your Son Jesus Christ..

And Lord we ask that you bless this time of worship and praise. That it would bring honor and glory to Your name, and we pray these things in Jesus name, Amen!!

Every Sunday morning something beautiful happens all over the world; millions and millions of people gather together in churches to worship and praise the Lord.

Whether it is in beautiful buildings like this one, or in secret meeting places for fear of persecution. God’s people from every walk of life come together to praise Him!!

Psalm 100 describes that. It describes God’s people going into the house of the Lord, and it speaks of the attitude we should have as we go!!

What is interesting to me is; it is a call that goes out to all the world, and it urges everyone to come and receive Him.

In a very practical way, Psalm 100 teaches us what the real purpose of the church is; to joyfully express praise and thanksgiving to God. And to urge all the people of the earth to do the same.

That is what this Psalm is all about.

I. The Call to Acknowledge the Lord Vs. 1-2

This is a call to recognize that God is worthy to be praise and to praise Him alone!!

Vs. 1-2, “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.”

This Psalm begins by calling everyone from everywhere, notice it says, all lands, to come and make a joyful noise to the Lord.

This literally means to shout it out loud and with exuberance to our God.

This is describing a call, something like blowing of a trumpet, for all the population of the earth to hear and come together to worship the Lord.

It is a call, that was specifically meant for the Gentile nations to turn from their false gods and to acknowledge the one true God of Israel. In other words, all the people of all the lands should praise Him and praise Him alone!!

Vs. 1 says, “make a joyful noise.” This comes from one Hebrew word which means “to shout.” I know this is not something that is popular here at North Country Baptist Church.

We don’t really go around shouting here, and we never want to be accused of being a Charismatic church, so I understand, it’s okay, but we need to understand, God inhabits the praises of His people.

Psalm 22:3 “Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.”

When we lift up our voices and praise His name, it glorifies God, and brings us deeper into His presence!!

Psalm 47:1 “O clap your hands, all peoples; Shout to God with the voice of joy.” (I remember when I first came here, and Jason was singing)

It’s okay to clap. It’s okay to say amen!! It is a good thing to acknowledge you have felt the presence of the Lord!!

Notice Vs. 2, we are challenged to “serve the Lord with gladness.” That means we are never to allow the work we do for the Lord to be done out of obligation or drudgery. We don’t want to grow weary in well doing.

The word “gladness” literally means, “with joy.” What this is teaching us is that we are to look at the things we do for Christ as reason to rejoice!!

An important part of worship is to come before the Lord ready to serve Him.

The New Testament teaches us that. It teaches us we are living sacrifices. So, naturally, when we worship in life, it leads to service.

In other words, instead of seeing the things you do for God as an obligation you have to fulfill, we should see it as a privilege that we are given. We get to do the work of the Lord in the church and in the world!!

I thank about the Apostle Paul who was once shipwrecked, beaten with rods, and bitten by snakes. Yet as an older man reflecting on his life would say in 1 Timothy 1:12 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service,”

That is the way we should think of serving God. It is an honor and a privilege to serve the Lord and I pray one day, when we get to heaven, we will all hear, “Job well done, thou good and faithful servant!!”

Let me ask you this; when was the last time you were excited about coming to church, and serving the Lord? That shouldn’t be something that is rare, but should be common in each one of our hearts.

ILL. Next week I will be going to the Michigan Ohio State Football game in Ann Arbor. My friends and I will get there hours before the game begins. We will eat breakfast and drink coffee together out on the golf course, and laugh and have a good time.

At noon we will pack ourselves into the big house, with 110,000 Michigan football fans, wearing maize and blue Michigan jerseys, all screaming and yelling, ready to cheer on their team.

Wouldn’t it be great if God’s people were that excited about coming to church to meet with God? Think of the impact that could have on the world.

What if we put on Jesus jerseys and painted or faces and we were as excited about God as we are our football teams!!!

Psalm 122:1 David said, “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”” We should be excited about the opportunity to go to church!!

Psalm 84:10 “For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.”

We should be excited about the opportunity to Serve God. I pray we would all be as enthusiastic as David about coming to church and serving the Lord!!

BTW, in the Old Testament the presence of the Lord was centered around the temple. That was where they would go to meet with the Lord.

Today we are the temple of the Lord. So, we don’t just come to church to meet with the Lord, we bring the Lord with us to church!!

Notice the end of Vs. 2 we are told to “Enter with singing.” We are to come to the house of the Lord with a heart that is rejoicing. This word “singing” in the original language, literally means a ringing cry!!

In other words we are to lift up our voices as loud as we can and sing. We are here to bless the Lord, and exalt His name!!

That is funny because everyone here knows I cannot sing!! I am the epitome of someone making a joyful noise to the Lord!! (Last Wednesday night)

But we are commanded to sing songs of praise to God!! Psalm 68:32 “Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth, Sing praises to the Lord.”

So, never hesitate to lift up your voice and sing as loud as you can, because it brings glory to God when we rejoice and praise Him!!

In Psalm 100, we see the call to acknowledge the Lord. And it is a call that goes out to all the earth. Unfortunately, most people refuse to answer that call, including professing Christians.

But God commands us in Hebrews 10:25 not to forsake the assembling of yourselves together.

So, all of those people out there who claim you don’t have to go to church to believe in God. I would just encourage them to go and read Hebrews 10:25, because we are commanded to gather together in praise and worship!!

So, we see in Vs. 1-2, Our attitude about coming to church should be one of anticipation and joy, because our God is worthy to be celebrated and served!!

II. The Call to Receive the Lord Vs. 3

Here we are called to confess and know He is the one true God.

It is important we understand that every thing we learn from scripture about the Lord, is a new reason to praise Him.

God help us if we ever reach a place where we are not amazed by God anymore!! Because everything we say and everything we do in our life speaks of who God is to us!!

So, it is important that we never forget who we serve, and that we are the children of the living God.

Notice there is a Word of Power in Vs. 3, “ Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; “

This is meant to remind us of who created us!!. We are here, in this world, because God has placed us here!! The power of God formed us after His own image!! That alone is worthy of praise!!

However, beyond His power to create us, is His power to re-create us. We’ve been born again. When we were dead in our trespasses and God made us alive in Christ!! We have been redeemed. He has made us new!!

The Apostle Paul talks about that in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

Are you a new creature in Christ today? Have you been redeemed and made new? Then He is worthy to be praised!!

Just the fact that God’s power is revealed to us in creation is enough to praise Him, but when you think about the fact that through forgiveness and grace, He allows us to start over, to begin again with a clean slate.

To live beyond the guilt and the shame of the mistakes we have made, and be set free. He is worthy to be praised for His power in our life!!

Notice there is also a word about purchase in Vs. 3, “we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”

This is speaking of us as God’s personal possession. We are His people, we belong to Him. Why? Because He has paid a price to redeem us from our sin.

At one time each and everyone of us were living as slaves to sin, but Christ came to die and set us free. That is what it means to be redeemed.

There are two words in the New Testament that describe our redemption.

Revelation 5:9 “And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God.”

The word “purchased” there is the word “agorazo” and it means “to buy in the marketplace.”

This is a reference to purchasing a slave from the slave auction. That’s what Jesus did on the cross. He bought us back from our sin. He paid the price for our freedom.

2. 1 Peter 1:18 “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold.”

The word “redeemed” here is “Loutron” and it means to be released after the payment has been made! And that speaks of our freedom. The picture is of a slave that was bought and then let go!!

But it is important we understand we were not set free just to serve ourselves, we were set free to serve the Lord!! We are either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness and if you have been redeemed you belong to the Lord.

There is also a word about God’s provision in Vs. 3. “the sheep of his pasture.” We are reminded that we are apart of the family.

And God promises those who belong to Him several things important things in scripture.

He promises us His presence. Hebrews 13:5 “I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you,”” God’s promise is that He will always be with us no matter where we are or what we are going through, He is there!!

He promises us peace. John 14:27 ““Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

We don’t have to have live with anxiety or fear because we can have the peace of God that surpasses all understanding!!

3. And He promises us His provision. Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

Now that doesn’t mean we have everything that we want in this world but we will always have what we need!!

And David sums up all of these things with his words in Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

When you consider all of these great promises from God to those who belong to Him, there is certainly reason to rejoice and be thankful!!

I can’t help but think that so many people don’t know the Lord this way. So many are wandering like sheep without a shepherd. It’s our responsibility as believers to invite them to come into a relationship with the Lord!!

We know the Lord is God. We know He created us to have a relationship with Him. We know He has given us His Son and that by repenting of our sin and believing in Him we become apart of His family.

So, it is up to us to point people toward Jesus. To show them that He is the way, the truth, and the life. It is not His will that any should perish so it is our responsibility to take the will of God to the world. To share the gospel!!

That is what Jesus told us to do. Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.””

So, we have seen Psalm 100 is a call to acknowledge the Lord. And it is a call to Receive the Lord.

III. The Call to Enter the Lord’s Presence Vs. 4-5

Here we are told to enter His temple with a thankful heart.

The Psalmist is specifically speaking to those who were ascending Mount Zion and coming to the temple to worship.

That was the place where the presence of the Lord existed in a special way for them. So, as they entered through the gates into the courtyard of the temple, they were to come in offering thanksgiving and praise to the Lord.

The picture for us is clear. God wants us to come into the house of the Lord, into His presence with hearts full of gratitude and thanksgiving!! Why?

Because, He is worthy of praise. Vs. 4 says, “Enter into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”

He is worthy. He is our Creator and Shepherd. He made us and guides us throughout our lives. But even more than that He is our Savior, redeemer, and friend.

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

That means that even when we didn’t care, even when the things of God were not important to us, God made a way for us to make it, through Christ Jesus, so that we could spend eternity with Him in heaven.

God in His mercy and kindness gave His Son to die on a cross so we could be forgiven and saved!!

And the cross of Jesus Christ exceeds every other reason for us offer thanksgiving and praise to Him!!

Notice He is good and loving, and that His love never ends!! Vs. 5 says, “For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting;”

We should come into God’s presence with thankful hearts because God is good everyday and always!!

He is good even to those who don’t know Him. The bible tells us that God causes it to rain on the just and the unjust , but He is especially good to those who belong to Him!!

Also, we are told to give thanks for His mercy. The word mercy in the original is the word “hessed” and it means “lovingkindness” and this speaks of an everlasting love, and agape love, that never fails. We may fail God, but He will never fail us!!

Finally we should enter into God’s presence with Thanksgiving for His truth and faithfulness. Notice the end of Vs. 5 says, “and his truth endureth to all generations.”

In other words, we can count on God because His Word never fails!! It is truth that lasts forever!!

This Psalm teaches us what our attitude should be as we go to the house of the Lord. Not only should we come before Him with gladness and joy, but we should enter His presence with thanksgiving and praise.

God is good all the time and all the time God is good. He is always faithful and His love never fails.

So, as we come to church, we should prepare our hearts to give thanks to Him for all He has done for us. As we walk through these doors our hearts should be filled with praise.

As we enter into the sanctuary and the service begins, we should lift our voices to the Lord and praise Him for His love and kindness!!

Under the Old Testament law, the people expressed their gratitude by offering a sacrifice. But as New Testament believers we are taught to offer the sacrifice of Thanksgiving!! The praise from our lips!!

So, I am grateful we have portions of scripture like Psalm 100 that remind us, no matter what is going on in the world around us, it is always a time to praise the Lord.

(Pray)

Father, I thank you for your Word. I acknowledge you as our God and you are worthy to be honored and praised for all you are and all you have done. We love you Lord in the Name of Jesus, Amen!!